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Stomach bug forces Spanish star out of first Grand Slam of year in Melbourne

Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Australian Open on Friday, claiming he was still suffering from the stomach virus which caused him to cancel his return to action in the Gulf this week after a six-month absence.

Nadal, an 11-time Grand Slam title winner, has also withdrawn from the Qatar Open which starts on Monday and where he was due to play his first official event since losing in the Wimbledon second round to world No 100 Lukas Rosol in June.

The Spaniard, who has been sidelined with a crippling knee injury, had already missed the Olympics, where he was defending champion, the US Open and Davis Cup final where Spain lost to the Czech Republic.

"My knee is much better and the rehabilitation process has gone well as predicted by the doctors, but this virus didn't allow me to practice this past week and therefore I am sorry to announce that I will not play in Doha and the Australian Open, as we had initially scheduled," the 26-year-old, world No 4 said.

"As my team and doctors say, the safest thing to do is to do things well and this virus has delayed my plans of playing these weeks.

"I will have to wait until the Acapulco tournament (in February) to compete again, although I could consider playing before at any other ATP event.

"I always said that my return to competition will be when I am in the right condition to play and after all this time away from the courts I would rather not accelerate the comeback and prefer to do things well."

Nadal, the record-breaking seven-time French Open champion who had been due to make his comeback in an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi this week, will also face a drop in the rankings having been runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final in 2012.

He will slip out of the top four for the first time in more than seven years.

But doctors have told him that the gastroenteritis which left him with a high fever for five days requires a week's break from sport.

His medical team claim that would leave him with insufficient time to prepare for the season's first Grand Slam, which gets under way on Jan 14.

Toni Nadal, the player's uncle and coach, said his nephew would be unable to stand the rigors of five-set matches at the Australian Open.

"We consider it not appropriate to play the Australian Open since we will not have enough preparation for a great competition like a Grand Slam tournament," he said.

"It is simply not conceivable that his first event is a best-of-five sets tournament, he wouldn't be ready for that. It is true we have been quite unlucky with this but there is nothing we can do.

"After all this time it is better to do things well and the most professional thing to do is to start when we are ready."

NOTE:

Australian Open officials disappointed for Nadal

Australian Open officials on Saturday said they fully understood Rafael Nadal's decision to miss the first Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne and wished him a speedy return to the tour.

"It is completely understandable and we really feel disappointed for him," Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said.

"But without any match practice and without sufficient lead-up time on the practice court, it makes it virtually impossible for him to get his body ready.

"We just hope he gets better quickly and we see him back on the tour as soon as possible."

(China Daily 12/30/2012 page7)